5 must-know things about Spanish

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Hey, we are so close to the last language of this Langventure, my fellow Langventurists! But before we get into our BONUS language (and what an unexpected choice it is!), let's say a proper goodbye to the friendly Spanish idioma (ee-dee-oh-muh), "language", and with it complete our Spanish journey.

Here, as it already became a tradition, let's get to know some of the language's words from a curious and fun angle. Ready, steady, go!

1. Spanish "influencers"

The biggest influence on Spanish comes from: Latin, of course, responsible for 75% of its vocabulary, and... Arabic (!) giving a staggering 8,000 loanwords. Amongst them are the words like: loco, "crazy", that comes from Arabic "lawqā" (لَوْقَاء⁩) — "fool"; sandía, "watermelon", from the Arabic "sindíyya" (سندية), meaning "from Sind" — a region in Pakistan from where this fruit was introduced to the eastern Arabs; and barrio, "neighborhood", from Arabic "barrī" (بَرِّيّ) that translates as "wild".

And the Spanish "ojalá"? It is also from Arabic "law sha Allah", meaning "if God wills". Same unexpected origin has Spanish "hasta", as in the popularized by "The Terminator" phrase "Hasta la vista, baby!" Here an Arabic preposition "ḥattà" (حتّى), meaning "up to this point", and a Latin expression "ad ista" ("up to that") merged together to form "hasta" the way we know it.

The popular Spanish "¡ole!" (or "¡olé!"), an expression of approval, support or encouragement, is also rooted in Arabic and comes from "wa-llah" (و الله) meaning "by Allah!". However, its proposed Arabic origin is disputed and described as "falsos arabismos" (false Arabisms) by some experts.

Nevertheless, a ton of words in Spanish has Arabic or Latin "ancestors", and sometimes even both, like in that word of a daily significance: "almuerzo" ("lunch") — that combines Arabic al- with Latin word morsus ("bite"). That is, of course, explained by history. You see, Spanish itself "stemmed" from so called Vulgar Latin, or Latin used by people in their daily lives, after the invasion of the Romans in the Peninsula and the invasion of the Arabic-speaking Moors in 711 (who kept Spain in their hands until 15th century).

Nowadays, however, Spanish experiences a major English influence, with about 19,000 words borrowed from English! The opposite process, by the way, also has place: Spanish words — like "ranch", "telenovela", "breeze", "tornado", "armadillo", "bodega", and many others, — enter the English language to stay.

...Only some of Spanish words and phrases are used in English the way Spanish speakers would never use! Let's get them clear now.

2. "No problemo" is "no bueno"

It is common to hear those phrases in English: "no problemo" (for "no problem") and "no bueno" (for "no good"). But it's, surely, not Spanish. You can put them into a special category of "Enganish" or something, and continue saying them the way the English-speaking community accepted it. Or, if you'd like to learn and apply proper Spanish options, here they are:

"No problem" = "No hay problema":

First, notice that Spanish word for "problem" is problema, not problemo (which is not a Spanish word at all). Second, notice the important word hay in the middle. To understand better how it works in Spanish, you can replace hay with English "there is". By that logic, no hay will have the meaning of "there isn't", or "there is no", and the full phrase turns into "There is no problem".

Why is that that in English you can say simply "No problem" without "is no" in it but not in Spanish? This is just the differences in the languages' "inner workings" that we have to kindly accept.

"Not good" = "No está bien":

This one is a similar case to the previous one, where we just couldn't omit "hay" from the sentence. In this one we just cannot say it in Spanish without a verb. However, there are two options I can suggest. First one is the same phrase you already know but always with "es" (which is Spanish for "is") in the middle: "No es bueno" — this is already such a good step forward to proper Spanish grammar!

And it would be enough, but in Spanish there are differences in meaning and, hence, usage between two verbs for "to be": "ser" (that has its form "es" for the English "is") and "estar" (that has its form "está" for the English "is"). I won't dwell on the differences here, or explain how word Spanish grammar works. All I'll say is that you are better of memorizing this version: "No está bien" — as it can be applied to a bigger variety of situations than "no es bueno" (notice that the two phrases finish with different words: "bien" and "bueno").

"Understand?" = "¿Me entiendes?":

One more phrase to your "piggy bank" of Spanish language. You've definitely heard or even said this one: "Comprende?" Although, it is a legitimate Spanish word, natives use it with the meaning of "comprehend", "ponder upon". Imagine if somebody told you: "I need a bathroom. Do you ponder upon it?" That is why it only causes a confused look on a Spanish speaker's face.

The correct phrase is: "¿Me entiendes?" ("Do you understand me?"), or at the very least: "¿Entiendes?" — which is, actually, a filler in Spain (you know, like English "you know" or "actually") that the locals "suffer" from the most: "And then I opened the door, ¿me entiendes?, and there was a raccoon in the backyard, ¿me entiendes?" Buy the way, it is the Russian most annoying filler, too ("понимаешь?", puh-nee-muh-yesh) :D

3. Have it both ways

Spanish is proud of its palindromes — phrases that read both ways, left to right and right to left. See here:

• Anita lava la tina.

= "Anita washes the bathtub".

• La ruta nos apartó otro paso natural.

= "The route provided us with another natural passage".

• ¿Son rodos o sobornos?

= Those are robberies or bribes?

• ¿Acaso hubo búhos acá?

= Were there owls here?

• Eva usaba rímel y le miraba suave.

=

Eva was using mascara and looking softly at him.

• A mamá, Roma le aviva el amor a papá y a papá, Roma le aviva el amor a Mamá.

= For mom, Rome revives her love to dad, and for dad, Rome revives his love to mom.

These are just some examples that I found interesting. English also has some but in Spanish they can write whole paragraphs in palindrome manner.

4. UnImOginAblE!

Another point of pride for the Spanish language is a bonkers amount of words that contain

all five vowels

of the Spanish alphabet. I can't really say why is that important of significant, but this piece of information about Spanish is spread all over the internet and presented almost like an incredible accomplishment, so let me just duplicate it here so that your knowledge about what Spanish can do wouldn't miss a thing.

In

Wikitionary

there is even an exhaustive list of such words, but I'll only share here some that are habitual and most used:

• abuelito

= tender way to say "granddaddy";

• murciélago

= "bat" (the nocturnal mammal);

• orquídea

= "orchid";

• arquitecto

= "architect";

• cuestionar

= "to question";

• meticulosa

= "meticulous" (ending

-a

means we apply it in reference to a woman);

• renunciado

= "resigned" (ending

-o

means we apply it in reference to a man);

• educativo

= "educating".

English also have words like that, say, "gregariously" or "buoyancies", but only in Spanish there are

over 42,000 words with 5 vowels in them

(called officially

panvocálicas

or

pentavocálicas

) and the diversity of their usage is quite impressive: from the words of a preschooler to more sophisticated to scientific ones.

5. Modismos

I kindly remind you about all Spanishes that exist out there and the

differences the vocabularies have

depending on the country where Spanish is spoken, sometimes even up to a point that the same word means something else entirely. Those are called

"modismos"

in Spanish (in case you want to go ahead and search the web for them) and they are plenty. Clearly, you'll get to know them all once you've came to the country of your choosing or started to talk to a local. But just to feel the "taste", here are some examples:

1. "T-shirt"

:

camiseta

(Peru),

remera

(Argentina, Uruguay),

polera

(Chile, Bolivia),

franela

(Venezuela),

playera

(Mexico).

1. "Sneakers"

:

championes

(Uruguay, Paraguay),

zapatos de goma

(Venezuela),

tenis

(Spain, Cuba),

kids

(Bolivia).

1. "Popcorn"

:

canchita

(Peru),

cabritas

(Chile),

pochoclo

(Argentina),

pó

(Uruguay),

As for words that mean different things in different countries, here is

Here is a short video with some more examples of differences in Spanishes (03:27):

I remember starting in Spanish and trying to find how to say "Cool!" — a useful word to have at hand if you think about it. Only the answers from Spanish speaking acquaintances of mine I was talking to (and they were from many different countries) were complicated and not straightforward at all.

There were:

• "¡Chévere!", "¡Bacán!", or "¡Genial!" but only if you are in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Puerto Rico,
• "¡Chiva!" for Salvador,
• "¡Pichudo!" for Costa Rica,
• "¡Salvaje!" for Nicaragua,
• "¡Copado!" or "¡Bárbaro!" for Argentina,
• "¡Chido!" or "¡Qué padre!" for Mexico,
• "¡Guay!" for Spain,
• "¡Bacáno!" or "¡Qué nota!" for Colombia, and on it went.

In fact, I found this article with 30 ways to say "Cool"! Can you imagine the diverse world of the language that spread over such a huge continent of Latin America and morphed into so many distinct variations in numerous cultures! On that nota 😊 we come to the end of our Langventure's road into Spanish — diverse, fun, peculiar, quirky language, with so many sides to it you never expected to come across. Continue on, my friend!

Hasta pronto! (Us-tuh pron-toh!) Later!

"¡Guay! My love to Langventure!"

Discover more about Spanish and other languages at langventure.mystrikingly.com!